Rebecca D’Anna makes leeway for her team against Holy Cross. Photo by Autumn Walter.
The Rhode Island Women’s Soccer Team’s unbeaten run has finally come to a close after falling 1-0 at Boston University, but not before they extended it to four with a draw on Thursday, Sept. 12 against Holy Cross.
Thursday’s matchup saw the Rams’ three game winning streak threatened when Holy Cross scored just two minutes into the game off a goal from Olivia Ferrara. However, Rhody was able to bounce back shortly after with junior Midfielder Kaitlyn Sengphilom scoring unassisted just 14 minutes later. The next 75 minutes were closely contested with neither team able to gain an edge in the end and the final score finishing at 1-1, making the Rams’ record 3-0-1 which pushed the streak to four and continued their hot start to the season.
Sunday was yet another battle from the Rams as they took the trip north to play Boston University. The teams were essentially dead even for 80 out of the 90 minutes of the match with great defense and goalkeeping by both sides. Freshman Goalie Teresa Morrissey stood tall between the pipes, making two saves for Rhody, while Amanda Fey added three more. Additionally, Grace Haggerty and her partners on defense, Kelly Fitzgerald and Karlee Luker played excellently, letting up a mere two goals in their four-game undefeated stretch and even contributing on the offensive side of the ball as well with several shots on target. It looked as though this game would have the same result as the last until Sophia Woodland finally found the back of the net for the Terriers with time winding down in the second half. The Rams continued to fight to the last whistle but that would be the decider in a game that saw the Rams’ unbeaten run finally snap. However, this was the longest unbeaten streak of any womens’ soccer team at URI since 2012 when they were able to push it to five games.
With that trip to Boston, the first loss of the season was finally in the books for the Rams. However, there is no time to dwell as they will have to regroup in order to continue to push for an Atlantic 10 Conference Championship with big matchups at Dartmouth on Thursday, Sept. 19 as well as a home contest against last year’s A-10 Conference Champion, Saint Louis.